Hive @ Soft(n)

Workshop, part of DEAF07.

15

Apr 2007

11:00 to
18:00

[original publicity text]

This workshop aims at creating a locative live mixing and data visualization game in the V2_ lounge area, in which players collect images from the city and festival venues, and manipulate the broadcasting of these images in a playful manner. In the game, the Media Artist Embedded DIY Kit, developed by Hivenetworks will be used to collect the images, to tag them with a personal evaluation, and to send them back to the V2_ lounge area. There, interaction with the Soft(n) installation will 'read' the affective states of its users, that then determine if and how the collected images are broadcast, by applying the mapping rules between these affective states and the affective tags of the collected images. Events in the ongoing interaction with Soft(n) installation in the lounge area will also be used in messaging to players on the venue, to provide real-time feedback to them as the game advances.

Workshop participants can partake in both the conceptual as well as in the technical development of the game. The conceptual development of the game will consist of designing the rules by which the affective tags and affective states will influence the broadcasting and behavior of the players. The rules should be designed to challenge players of the game to gather and tag images, and to communicate their affective states through the Soft(n) objects to get their images broadcasted in the V2_Lounge. The technical development of the game will consist of going through the basic steps of DIY network building, personalizing the Media Artist Embedded DIY Kit, programming the affective mapping rules, and advancing the communication between the Hive and Soft(n) networks. A demo application that allows basic communication between the two networks, including real-time text messaging and a straightforward mapping of affective tags and states will be delivered as part of the workshop material.

Hivenetworks is an open source project that explores the new concepts of DIY network building, mesh architectures and ubiquitous computing. It aims at taking DIY technology to the point where it becomes accessible to anyone with creative mind and basic knowledge of computing. Hivenetworks has strong affinity with media practitioners looking for new ways of content aggregation and dissimilation and new models of network publishing.

Currently the development phase of Hive entitled DIY toolkit for ubiquitous computing is underway, jointly funded by Arts Council England and SCAN (UK). The Media Artist Embedded DIY Kit is the first practical result of the development phase. It builds on technology that can gather and classify visual and sensory data within a given network, location, or directly from a user. This technology is employed in Hivewares, which are highly mobile networked devices that can be used throughout a large area. In the Hive@Soft(n) workshop, Hivewares in the form of wearable garments will be used to collect images, to tag them with a personal evaluation, and to send the tagged images to the V2_ lounge area. In that area manipulation of the soft objects of the Soft(n) network will determine if and how the collected images are broadcasted over the network and presented on the screens in the lounge area.

Soft(n) networkThe Soft(n) network interacts with and between a group of soft objects, physically located in the V2_Lounge. External interaction by users and between the objects is classified according to a set of qualities which are determined by how the soft objects are touched or moved. As a result, emergent group or cluster behaviours form through sound, light and vibration. In the Hive@Soft(n) workshop, the classified interaction qualities are used to manipulate the broadcasting of the images collected and tagged using the Hivewares.

The Hive @ Soft(n) workshop is primarily aimed at people with visualisation skills, programming skills (in Flash, PD, and/or MAX/MSP) and general creative people with an interest in locative media, games, and/or reporting skills.